- World News
Burma or Myanmar? Myanmarese or Burmese?
We refer to Myanmar a lot in our news because it’s a bordering foreign country to Thailand and many people from Myanmar work in and around Thailand. But is it Myanmar or Burma, and are the people that live there Myanmarese or Burmese? As you’ll read across the media there is no precise answer to the question with foreign powers…
- Business News
4 new board members for THAI restructure, 1 has airline experience
Four new board members for Thai Airways are the face of hope for the national airline as it addresses massive losses and restructuring. The airline’s business is now being addressed under the country’s Bankruptcy Act. Piyasvasti Amranand, Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, Boontuck Wungcharoen and Pailin Chuchottaworn have joined the Thai Airways executive board. Piyasvasti served as the airline’s president from June 2009…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Tuesday, May 26
Bangkok woman dies of salmonella poisoning after eating ‘death dumplings’ Following the death of a Bangkok woman who fell ill after eating dumplings, lab tests have now come back proving there were detected traces of salmonella bacteria. The Samut Prakan provincial health office confirms that several members of the woman’s family also fell ill after eating the dumplings, which were…
- World News
Critics say new security laws will infringe on Hong Kong’s autonomy
Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam has tried to reassure rattled residents and international investors that proposed national security laws won’t trample on the city’s rights and freedoms. She has joined the chorus of reassuring support for Beijing’s attempts to find better ways to control the destabilising protests that have disrupted the city for seven months over the past year.…
- Tourism News
Phuket’s lost summer – looking to 2021 for tourism recovery
In a solemn recognition of the reality of Phuket’s stalled tourist industry, a spokesperson for the southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association is saying most of the west coast hotels are unlikely to reopen until the last quarter of this year. And that’s just the start of the problems for the popular island beach resort. For now, Phuket’s International…
- Hot News
Pattaya Council mulls a mass transport monorail system
Nothing like the middle of a pandemic to announce a new monorail project. Undeterred, the Pattaya City council have announced a new 9 kilometre monorail as part of its Eastern Economic Corridor projects. They cite the need to ease traffic congestion caused by rapid urban growth in the seaside party town. They say the inner city area is in desperate…
- Covid-19 News
Curfew may be shortened another hour – Midnight to 4am
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, headed up by the Thai PM, is mulling knocking off another hour from the national curfew. If it goes ahead the curfew would shortened from 11pm – 4am daily to Midnight – 4am daily. It could happen as early as June 1, along with other relaxations of restrictions. The National Security Council is being…
- Business News
New Thai Airways board will nominate 4 ‘professionals’ to execute restructure
Thai Airways first took off as the national airline on May 1, 1960 with its first passenger-carrying flight. 60 years later it’s now poised for a massive dissection as it enters bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring. It’s 60th birthday passed without fanfare or announcement as the pride of the nation scrambles for survival – a victim of a global pandemic, years…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Thursday, May 21
Covid-19 update: 3 new cases including German man, no deaths 3 new Covid-19 cases have been found over the past 24 hour period, but no deaths, bringing the national total to 3,037 and leaving the death toll at 56. The new cases were found in Bangkok and Chon Buri – 2 community infections while the other was a repatriate student…
- Thailand News
International postal services resume to some countries
Thailand’s postal service is resuming international deliveries to a variety of destinations as the Covid-19 situation in many countries has improved and many local and national governments have eased lockdown measures. Thailand Post announced the resumption of the service on its Facebook page yesterday. EMS World service will be available in 11 countries – Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea,…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Cyclone Amphan: Crossed the coast and now saturating India and Bangladesh
Cyclone Amphan made reached the coastline late yesterday afternoon near the Indian town of Digha, on India’s eastern coast, near the border with Bangladesh. As the storm marched up the Bay of Bengal since the weekend, strengthening, thousands of people were evacuated as a precaution for the major storm system. Millions of other have taken shelter or made their way…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Wednesday, May 20
Start off today with a sign of one of the new normals, at the Seacon Mall near Bang Na in Bangkok. Here you can see that they’ve installed foot switches for the elevator system. First to call the elevator and then, once you’re inside, to select the floor and close the doors. Luckily in the case of this elevator there…
- Economy News
Thai GDP drops nearly 2% in first quarter
The Thai economy’s slumped by nearly 2% year-on-year during Q1, 2020. In it’s full-year forecast, the National Economic and Social Development Council forecasts that the Thai GDP would drop 5-6% for the year. As a comparison, the economy tanked 7.6% during the 1997 financial crisis. The Gross Domestic Product in Q1 dropped by 1.8%, compared to a rise of 1.5% in the…
- World News
“Off the charts” – biggest drug seizure in decades
“Truly off-the-charts.” That was the assessment of Jeremy Douglas from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime talking about a major drug seizure in Myanmar’s northern Shan state. How off the charts? Authorities seized 200 million methamphetamine tablets (yaba), more than 500 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (ice), and 35.5 tonnes and 163,000 thousand litres of precursor chemicals used to manufacture…
- Covid-19 News
Global aviation in acute crisis
by Andrew J Wood “…by the end of May 2020 most airlines in the world will be bankrupt.” Global aviation has been battered and commercial scheduled air traffic remains mostly grounded as countries enforce their lockdowns and travel restrictions. There are few signs that the end is in sight. For the largest of carriers like IAG (British Airways), United, American…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Monday, May 18
Click here to watch….. https://youtu.be/5NnXB4l03Cs Thailand’s Covid-19 numbers, 2 from Bangkok, one in Phuket 3 new cases of the coronavirus have been announced in Thailand today, bringing the total cases to 3,031. No additional deaths were recorded, leaving the accumulated toll at 56. Of the 3 new cases reported, two were a man and a woman in Nonthaburi province (north…
- Central Thailand News
4 people and 3 dogs rescued from Phitsanulok forest
Four members of the Phitsanulok’s Wang Thong district community, along with their 3 dogs, have been found after being lost since May 12. The group, who had been lost in the Phitsanulok forest for five days, were spotted by a police helicopter yesterday. Pol General Krisana Pattanacharoen, the deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police, said that the helicopter reported the…
- Central Thailand News
Samut Prakhan student severely injured in suicide bid
A 23 year old student at a prominent private university in the province of Samut Prakhan, just south of Bangkok, is in critical but stable condition after jumping from the fifth floor of her dormitory in an apparent failed suicide attempt. The student is now in recovering from her serious injuries in hospital. Police were informed of the incident at…
- Transport News
Thai Airways ponders bankruptcy as it enters rehab
Thai Airways, which turns 60 years old this month, recorded a net loss of US$66 million in 2017, US$361 million in 2018 and US$374 million last year. As the airline contemplates getting its grounded planes back in the air, it’s now confronted with a PR disaster at home as the government ponders a bailout valued around 60 billion baht, around US$1.8…
- Covid-19 News
Fortress Phuket remains sealed off from the mainland
A request by Phuket officials to reopen the Sarasin Bridge has been refused. The Governor has confirmed that the island will remain ‘closed’ until further notice. That includes the Phuket International Airport which was going to re-open yesterday (May 16), but 24 hours after the notice to reopen the airport on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Authority did a U-turn on…
- Covid-19 News
Ban on international travel into Thailand extended until June 30
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has today announced an extension of their current ban on international travel another month, until at least the end of June, 2020. The current ban on scheduled international flights was extended last month to cover May, up to May 31. But now the CAAT have announced the extension for at least another month. There…
- South Thailand News
Truck overturns in Songkhla, injuring 12
12 seafood processing factory workers were injured after the pickup truck they were travelling in burst a tyre, rammed into a roadside lamppost, and overturned. The incident occurred in the southern province of Songkhla this morning. Authorities say the crash happened on Ramot-Songkhla Road in tambon Muang Ngam. Police and rescue workers rushed to the scene to find an Isuzu…
- Transport News
Thai public balks at Thai Airways’ 60 billion bail out
A big decision is on the horizon for Thai Airways, the beleaguered national carrier. Crucial decisions are now being discussed which will define the airlines’ future. The airline was still haemorrhaging cash well before the coronavirus crisis started grounding planes from the start of February this year. Thai Airways’ fortunes have been in a death spiral for the past decade,…
- Politics News
Four destinations removed from Thailand’s “high risk” list
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has removed two countries and two special administrative zones off its list of Covid-19 ‘high-risk’ countries. The destinations include China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macau. The announcement was made late yesterday and listed in the Royal Gazette. The announcement mentioned the “effectiveness of those areas in containing the continued spread of the deadly virus”.…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: Phuket airport reopening delayed, again
UPDATE: In a surprise reversal, The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has announced the postponement of the reopening of Phuket International Airport, indefinitely. Just yesterday they announced that the provincial airport was to re-open from tomorrow morning. Although Phuket has gone 13 days with no new Covid 19 infections, it was still considered a risk area that needs to be…
- World News
US ramps up presence in South China Sea along with coronavirus rhetoric
Over recent weeks US Navy ships and Air Force bombers have undertaken high profile missions aimed at telegraphic a clear message to China that the US military intends to maintain a presence in the region. The US is ramping up military pressure on China and tensions in the South China Sea. It’s accusing Beijing of leveraging the Covid-19 pandemic to extend…
- World News
Vongfong, aka. Ambo, barrels into Philippines’ east coast
Typhoon Vongfong (aka. ‘Ambo’ in the Philippines) has made landfall, forcing tens of thousands of people to quickly evacuate whilst in the middle of lockdown amid their local Covid-19 outbreak. The typhoon struck the Phillipines east coast islands around Samar at around noon yesterday. Around 200,000 people living in the coastal areas near Samar have been affected. Vongfong packed winds of…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Thursday, May 14
Tenants bailing out of pricey Bangkok offices amid pandemic Bangkok’s high-end office district is looking more like a ghost town as the coronavirus pandemic seems to have many companies bailing out of their pricey office spaces. Business owners have had a wake-up call from employees discovering the advantages of working from home. A spokesperson from Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy…
- World News
Fewer Chinese tour groups, more independent travellers to reboot SE Asia travel
Hoping that Chinese tourism is going to ride magically back into Thailand on the back of a gleaming red dragon and save the tattered tourism sector may be precipitous. Of course there are so, so many unknowns even the regular travel writers and consultants are scrambling to forecast a way forward. For Thailand, the ban on international flights hasn’t even…
- World News
Typhoon Vongfong closes in on the Philippines, hits coast later today
The Philippines is bracing for the arrival of Typhoon Vongfong. During Tuesday and Wednesday, Vongfong strengthened from a modest tropical storm with winds of 95 kph to the equivalent of a major typhoon. Maximum sustained winds are now up to 195 kph and the typhoon continues to strengthen as it approaches the Philippines’ coast. The only difference between a ‘hurricane’ and…
